Budgeting tips when prices rise

You've probably noticed: 'The price of everything is going up'. According to I Am Just A Girl in Debt, author of the I’ve Paid For This Twice Already, rising costs are an inevitable fact of life.

But it seems lately, things are going up faster than pay increases can keep up with it. Sometimes, even when we’re buying the exact same things we bought the month or year before, they cost significantly more. So what can you do when the price of everything is more, but you can’t afford to spend more?

Some helpful hints:

• Identify wants versus needs.
• Set 7-day meal plan.
• Shop for staples vs shopping for meals.
• Know the unit prices of everything.
• Find substitutions.
• Become more self-reliant.

Read the article in full here.

His, mine, and ours

At Green Panda Treehouse, a blog for college students and recent graduates, author D shares some information about how she and her husband manage their family budget. In summary, D and hubbie divide their income into three piles: hers, his and ours.

I think the key for us is keeping it easy to use and easy to change. We use a Google Spreadsheet for our joint budgeting. It lists our deposits and expenses for the month. We also add a buffer in case we go over. Using Google for our spreadsheet is great as we share the spreadsheet and it notifies the other of changes.

We review this on an as needed basis, if someone gets a raise or works more hours, etc. To determine how much each deposits, we go by monthly income and come up with a percentage and then use that to calculate deposits.

Read the story in full here.

Budgeting: the five easy steps

"Budgeting", believes Lauren Fairbanks, editor of New York-based LifeStyler magazine, "is one of those rare art forms that a lot of people never learn how to master."

To help you along, Lauren lists and explains the five elements of a successful budget plan:

• Step 1: Figuring out your net income
• Step 2: Calculating your total monthly expenses.
• Step 3: Calculating your monthly savings.
• Step 4: Cutting back on monthly expenses
• Step 5: Stick with your budget.

Read Lauren's helpful guidance in full here.

Budget is not a four-letter word

"I don’t like budgets", admits Uncle Bill of the always-excellent Ask Uncle Bill personal financial blog. "The word smacks of deprivation, denial, not getting what you want." He continues:

Financial planners and personal finance writers love, and I mean love, to write about how not going to Starbucks and not getting some kind of latte will save you a lot. Stop buying lattes and you are on your way to financial freedom. Get Starbucks out of your life and budgets take care of themselves.

But lots of people like, no love, Starbucks or there wouldn’t be so many of them. And, if you are one of those people, great. Go to Starbucks and order what you want. To me coffee is just a drug but if you want Starbucks, go ahead. I’m not going to stop you. Drink lattes till you drop. But, spend less on something else.

More words of wisdom:

Percentages limit your resources to a definable amount. You cannot have more than 100% of something. When expenses exceed 100% of the money available, you are broke"

On a practical level Uncle Bill advises that:

The key is to cover the basics, the Needs in the Hierarchy, to free up money for the fun stuff.

Read and learn here.

What I spent money on

July 2008 was the first month that Twiggers at In Debt Because I Like Nice Things started keeping track of all of her spending. Her blog "is dedicated to following my long road out of debt, chronicling my struggles with wanting the finer things in life, and somehow reconciling the two!"

About her first month of budgeting Twigger writes:

It was a little bit of a wake up call, but it was also not the most exemplary month ... My plan is to keep track of everything for 3 months and then take the average of those months to create a budget! I am also hoping that keeping track of the spending will also show me which areas I can try and cut back in.

Read Twiggers's full story here.

Where does all the money go?

Over at MyMoneyBlog Jonathan has been tracking his and his wife's expenditures in search of an answer to the question: where does all the money go? Writes Jonathan:

I am not here to be better than you, or the next dude. Anyone out there could earn more than me, save more than me, or spend less than me. I’m only trying to track our progress, and to consistently try to make our situation a little bit better each day.

But ... I think tracking expenditures is a good idea for everyone, so I might as well share what I have discovered.

Read the piece in full here.

Your budgeting toolbox

A reader asks JD of Getting Rich Slowly: "I would like to start listing my spending totals into a spreadsheet budget along with setting goals for ‘bigger things’ (trips, winter tires etc). Do you have a budget template that works for you, or could you please recommend a few tips on getting started?"

In response JD shares a comprehensive list of budgets and budgeting tools that he has tried and tested over the previous years. It makes an excellent starting point for all those couples who want to get serious about taking charge of their finances. There's even a few videos!

Check out this little gem entitled "Your Thrift Habits", produced back in 1948 by the good people at Coronet Instructional Films. As JD says, it’s filled with great advice and is fun to watch too.

Read the article in full here.

Run = Love; Budgets = Run

Just came across this insightful piece in the archives of The Budgeting Babe, Nicole, in which she joins with a groups of pals to cheer on a friend running in her first Chicago marathon.

Unfortunately, the event was cancelled at around the half-way mark due to a lack of ambulances and, by all accounts, water. Nicole writes:

For my runner friend, the day was a disappointment, a premature conclusion to four long, hot months of sacrifice and training. And though I'm glad she's healthy, there's little comfort in realizing that this won't be the year she'll accomplish her goal.

I think there are some parallels here to personal finance. While running counts totals in miles and minutes, personal finance sets goals in dollars and dreams. But both require time, sacrifice, dedication, preparedness and support from friends and family. And in budgeting, as in running, there are no guarantees. A race can be called off at any time due to weather or road conditions, while budgets can be blown due to illness or life circumstances.

Read Nicole's piece in full here.

About budget categories

When creating your first budget or simply updating one you already use, it's important to recognise that budget categories are important. And it's not just because the categories you choose can either illuminate or obscure our spending choices; your budget categories will also influence your future behaviour. As Phillip Brewer at WiseBread puts it:

Does the fitness center membership go under entertainment, or under medical? You can make a case for either.

Phillip offer an interesting suggestion for those wanting to get their budget categories right. turn to the categories used by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for inspiration. Phillip continues:

Looking at the BLS categories would be especially useful if you're creating your first budget, in that it's going to have lots of categories that you probably wouldn't think of.

You can read Phillip's article in full here.

Kate's zero-based budget

Wise Bread contributor Kate Luther describes herself as 'a city-girl turned country-girl who traded in the corporate 9 to 5 for a home office and a life as a freelance writer'.

Kate's article on what she calls 'zero-based budgeting' is worth reading for lots of reasons but for one in particular: her focus on that dodgy category in every budget called 'Miscellaneous'. According to Kate:

In a zero-based budget, you account for things that you normally just "leave to fate". Your gas for example, running money for the week and that $5 to buy the latest issue of Cosmo or Maxim or whatever it is that adorns your coffee table. In this type of budget, you list everything and I mean ev-er-y-thing.

Read Kate's words of financial wisdom here.